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The court records speak volumes, but leave many questions unanswered — in part because dozens of documents have been filed under seal. What is publicly available paints a picture of Le Roux as a swashbuckling international criminal mastermind. Beyond drugs and guns, Le Roux was allegedly involved in arming a militia in Somalia, illicit gold smuggling in West Africa, harvesting exotic timber in the South Pacific, money laundering, and the development of encryption software.
The government's reluctance to discuss its deal with Le Roux, combined with his apparent role setting up his former associates, raises troubling questions about how far US agents are willing to go in order to make high-profile cases. While it's common for investigators to turn suspects facing charges into informants in exchange for leniency, they typically work their up to the top of a criminal organization — it's rare to use the boss to set up underlings.
Shulman, 28, a joint Australian-Israeli passport holder plead guilty last year to laundering millions in gold bars, silver grain and diamonds on behalf of a world-wide guns, drugs and assassination empire.
And the judge who sentenced Shulman didn’t believe a word of it.
He considered Shulman played the most “significant and pivotal role” of all the Israelis.
Shulman, serving in Duvdevan, Israel’s fiercest counter-terror squad, was looking at a much more serious crime than laundering money: it appears he was also storing 24 tonnes of ammonia nitrate explosive – used with such devastating effect in Bali, in 2002 – for Le Roux in a Hong Kong warehouse.
originally posted by: Kandinsky
a reply to: CriticalStinker
I genuinely understand the value of deals and 'trusted informants.' Still, it sometimes seems that we are lenient with powerful people and pedantic with the little guys. A dealer of a kg of coke or meth would face most of their life in prison; same for a petty street dealer. A guy like La Roux facilitates the supply of thousands of tons of coke and meth and gets the 'get out of jail' card.